Pet Emergencies: What You Need to Do

There’s no more worrying time for a pet owner than when you’re in the middle of a health emergency for your pet. Sudden onset, hard to explain symptoms that are causing clear distress to the animal you love also cause distress for you – and unfortunately as many animals are sensitive to your mood, your panic can feed their own sense that something is wrong.

Today we’re taking a look at some of the things you can do when you’re faced with an emergency for your pet, to help you react calmly and get them the help they need as fast as possible.

Be Prepared

There’s nothing worse than facing a serious emergency for your pet and simply not knowing what to do, so try and set the basics in place. Make sure you’re registered at a vet, and have the details for an out of hours vets practice – animals don’t always confine injuries and sickness to the 9-5!

Make sure you have a carrier that’s robust and big enough to house your pet comfortably. Different pets have different needs – cats and dogs require carriers or cages that are large enough for them to turn around in; for rodents like hamsters or mice, focus on finding a box they can’t chew through, and for fish and lizards, think about security – neither is likely to be well or happy outside the climate you’ve created for them so make sure it can hold them safe and secure for the journey.

What Can You Do?

Think about what you can do immediately. Contacting the vet is a high priority, but first make sure your pet is out of danger. If they’re wounded, are they bleeding? If you can do so without causing additional distress to the injured animal, you can try to clean the wound and apply pressure to stop the bleeding until a vet can close and dress it.

There are some things you really shouldn’t do, even in the name of first aid. Don’t try to remove anything that’s punctured your pet’s skin – glass, nails or other things that may be stuck in the wound. Cleaning away dirt can help prevent infection, but removing things that might have caused the wound can be counterproductive, causing more damage, or a shocking outpour of blood. Leave that for the controlled environment at the vet.

You also shouldn’t try to splint a cat or dog’s leg, even if you think it’s broken – this can cause more pain for them, and could lead to the bone setting incorrectly. Again, the best thing you can do is leave treatment to the vet.

High Priorities

Your highest priorities should be to make sure your pet is clear of immediate danger, contact a vet to get an appointment as soon as possible, and then focus on your animal’s comfort. Make sure they have easy access to food and more importantly water, that they have somewhere to rest that makes them feel safe, and that they don’t have to move far to get what they need. This will help to keep them comfortable until they get the treatment they need.